White on White - With Sympathy

Today we keep it clean and simple. Sometimes white on white is a great way to show off a great stamp without much extras.

I used a regular sized white card base for this card. I cut a piece of white cardstock at 5 1/4" x 4".

First off I stamped the flower imaged in black ink on the paper, while the stem of the flower was running of the left side. Then I stamped the "With Sympathy" phrase also in black ink to the lower right corner.

I used a stamp with random dots and added a few sprinkles with our Close to My Heart "sea glass" ink around the flower. Just random stamping. The stamped images did kind off floated in the air so I used a ruler and a black ink pen and drew a rectangle around the images, leaving just about 1/8". Make sure not to drew the lines through your images, spare them.

I then added the piece with some foam dots to the front of the card base and added a few matching sequins to the front. For the inside I had this beautiful phrase that came with my "Sympathy" stamp set. I used it on the inside and also drew a frame on the inside of the card.



Really simple, but beautiful, don't you think. Give it a try. Just make sure to work on a clean mat and check your finger often so there is no black ink sticking to them. White doesn't forgive black spots ;-) Let me know what you think about this card? Have you ever tried a white on white card?

New Close to My Heart Annual Idea Book Sneak Peek - Part 1

Welcome to sneak peek no.1 of the upcoming Close to My Heart Annual Idea Book 2017-18.

I hope you all are as excite about the new launch as I am :-) well, to spoil the party a little.... I already now what is coming. Yes, as a consultant you receive a few more specials beside commission on your sales. One perk for us as consultants is to be able to review upcoming idea books a month ahead of the public. If you are interested in becoming a Close to My Heart consultant yourself, please feel free to contact me so I can tell you all about this great opportunity and the perks of being part of my team. (Email me HERE)

I know, let's get back to the sneak peek. The new annual Idea Book will go live for all of you starting August 1st. You can see the Idea Book online or you can contact me to see how you can get your own personal copy. 

So, what is the difference between the Annual Idea Book and our Seasonal Expressions books you might ask?

Annual Idea Book valid for 1 year

This book contains all your basic paper crafting needs. You can find the Close to My Heart cardstock pallet, all ink pads, ink refills, tools, How-to-Books, albums, page protectors and flip flaps, basic ribbons, embellishments, fundamental paper packs (4 basic design paper color sets), some stamps and dies, etc...

Seasonal Expression Books valid for 4 months


The Close to My Heart Season Expression Books focus on design paper packs and stamp-sets which are time specific and only available for the 4 month period. For example, the upcoming Seasonal Expression Holiday Book will contain 4 design paper sets covering Fall, Halloween, Christmas and Winter. You will find stamp-sets matching these themes and coordinating embellishments and extras.  

This been said, our current Seasonal Expression Book can be found online HERE. You still have time until July 31st to order from this book until these items are gone. Check out the awesome summer set, lumberjack or unicorn set or how about the cute southern set? Get them while they are still available.

But now let's really start, shall we?

While last years "Color of the Year 2017" was the gorgeous "Sea Glass", the new "Color of the Year 2018" is called "Bashful" and is a must have pink in your stack.


You will be able to get cardstock, ink pad and refill and the mini pigment ink pad with this color. We also have a beautiful new "Everyday Life Album Bashful" for you in stock. 



Matching embellishments are a must, so the how about some lovely pearls in the new color? They will also be available in white and gold. Ribbon and Glitter Paper Sheets will match this color too. Speaking of gold...

Three brand new specialty papers will also coming your way. Did you ever tried to find gold or silver foils cardstock in 12" x 12"? Well you don' have to search for it anymore. Close to My Heart is adding gold and silver foiled cardstock sheet to the product line. 

Close to My Heart also added another, must-have-item to the product pallet... vellum sheets. A beautiful embellishment for all pages and cards...


Well, I hope you enjoyed the first little sneak peek of the upcoming Annual Idea Book 2017-18. While I can't show you all the new items right away, make sure to turn in next Monday. New cardstock designs and fundamentals are coming up.
Please contact me we any questions you might have or if you like to know more about Close to My Heart, our products or the possibility to become a Consultant yourself :-) Just email me HERE...

See you soon

Claudia

Coming Soon - New Annual Idea Book Preview

Turn in every Monday for a little sneak peek into our upcoming brand new Annual Idea Book from Close to My Heart.

I will give you in the upcoming 4 Monday's here on the blog a little preview on some of the new products coming your way in August. I can tell you, you will love all the new papers, stamps and more.

So stay connected and follow my blog to be on top of the game. Please contact me, if you like a personal copy of the Annual Idea Book. The Idea Book will also be available to be viewed here on the blog comes August 1st. 

Mark your calendars and see you here again soon.... the countdown starts Monday :-)

Happy crafting and get excited

Claudia

Technique: Creative Card Folds - Part 2

This is the last folding technique card I made for the blog hop. Like with the peek-a-boo card, it was very important to find the right double-sided paper for this project. Both sides of the paper have to compliment each other to make this card work.

I found this more masculine paper in my stack which I thought would work great with this fold.

I cut a strip of paper at 12" x 5 1/2". Next I scored it at 2", 4", 8" and 10". 
Now you have to make two cuts. Measure on each side (5 1/2" side) 2 3/4" from the bottom and mark the spot. Place the paper with the top 12" side into your trimmer and cut from the top 8" score point down to the 2 3/4" mark on the right side.

You do the same on the other side. Start cutting from the 4" score point on the top down to the 2 3/4" mark on the left side. Don't throw these two triangles away!
Lay the paper in front of you and place each triangle in the previous cut spot. Now take the right triangle, flip it over and adhere it to the left bottom side, flush with the bottom and starting at the 4" score line.
You do the same with the left triangle. Take it, flip it over and adhere it flush with the bottom of the right side, starting it at the 8" score line. Now fold the first left and right segment to the back and the second on each side to the front. They should line up in the middle of your card.

Next I cut a piece of matching colored cardstock at 5 1/4" x 3 3/4", a piece of design paper at 5" x 3 1/2" and a piece of cream cardstock at 4 3/4" x 3 1/4". All are layer on top of each other and adhered in the middle of the card. I stamped some trees to the top, a phrase underneath and an elk to the bottom.

For the "closure" I used a scalloped oval cut from golden glitter paper. I adhere it with foam dots to the left side of the card. A piece of ribbon in black with a golden thread is added with glue dots to the glitter paper before I adhered an oval with my stamped phrase on it on top of the bundle.

This is another really simple but super cute fold that you should try out. I makes a really special card :-) and it is not too complicated even if you are a beginner. So give it a try and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. 

Stay tuned for more card ideas to come...

Get Well Card made with Kraftpaper

I always loved Kraftpaper since it is such a pretty neutral paper and color. For this card we used a cream colored card base from Close to My Heart. I cut the Kraftpaper at 4" x 5 1/4". 

To create the stamped images, I placed a few flower and leave stamps on my Misti (great stamping tool). I arranged them in a way that they would cover the bottom of my paper. Then when I flipped the paper, I could stamp the images again leaving a small space in between them.

So why do I needed the Misti for this? I had to stamp the images multiple times for two reasons:
1. I had to prepare them for class
2. The Kraftpaper sometimes doesn't take the ink with the first stamping

To make sure that all samples are evenly stamped and in the event the ink didn't take with the first stamping I could get it again in the same spot. So how those the Misti work? You arrange your stamps on the lid of the Misti (the inside). Let's say in this example I arranged them all on the bottom of the paper, while my paper is placed in the right lower corner of the Misti. Now you ink them all up, close the lid and the stamping is on the bottom of the paper. Not enough ink showing? Well, make sure the paper is snug in the corner like the first time, ink the stamps up again and close the lid. Press the lid lightly down and open. If the result is good, turn the paper around so the stamped images are on the top now. Place it back in the lower right corner and repeat. This is how every sample looks just like the next. 


Well, back to this card. I handed out a few color pencils to color in two flowers and some leaves on each side, before we adhered the piece in the center of the card front. A little banner was stamped and adhered with foam dots to the front. 

The butterfly was cut twice, ones in Kraftpaper and ones in colored cardstock. Adhered together and decorated with a rhinestone. I did the same with with the little flower. Two flowers for the inside and this card was done.

If you have questions or if you need more information about the Misti, please don't hesitate to contact me HERE. 

Stampaganza - July Constant Campaign

Stampaganza

July 2017 Constant Campaign

Let Stampaganza 2017 begin! Buy any two My Acrylix® stamp sets at full retail price and get a third stamp set of equal or lesser value FREE! Choose from any stamp set in the current idea book, plus a collection of popular sets that we have brought back just for Stampaganza! 

Only for this month...The Word Puzzles Stamps are back. The Bundle is a set of 12 classic D-size stamp sets and covers each month with a different variety of words and phrase. Check a summary of all sets available in this bundle HERE (it's a PDF)

Oh and one other big deal for all new consultants signing up in July and all hostesses who have a gathering in July....you have a chance to get the complete set of Word Puzzles Stamps, a value of $215.40 for FREE. Like to know how? Contact me for more information on how to get this special.

The offers are good while supplies last and will end on July 31st. SO make sure to order in time :-) Have fun shopping and check out my website for all offers CLICK HERE.

Technique: Creative Card Folds - Part 1

Folds are a great way to make your cards looking even more special. Let's start with the peek-a-boo fold first. It is a super simple, but very effective fold and if you never tried any folds, start with this one :-)

You will see it is super simple. There is only one very important thing to check before your start. We need a piece of double-sided paper and both sides need to compliment each other. Like in my example, I have these cute flowers on one side and some poka-dots on the other. You can also see another sample on this Wednesday blog post. So all you have to make sure is that both sides of the paper work together when you fold the corners over. Sounds easy? I have a stack of double-sided paper and this was the hardest task ;-) but I found something that worked.


So for this card I used a regular card base and cut my double-sided paper at 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". This was the end of a 12"x 12" sheet and I still had the border attached to it. Border? You might ask? Well our Close to My Heart paper uses the top piece were you normally find the name of the paper etc and prints on the other side a matching border to the paper. Clever isn't it? So when you cut this strip off, you can use it for your design. Well, I just left it attached and used it as part of the front.

Next I cut in to the paper at about 2 3/4" from the bottom and about 2" into the paper. You can make this cut at any height or with any length all depending on how your fold should look like. Fold both ends over and secure them with a foam dot to the front. I placed a strip of colored cardstock to the right side of my card base before I added my peek-a-boo piece. The "Happy Birthday" is stamped with pigment white ink. A little flower is covering up the end of the cut and a butterfly is used as extra decor. A few rhinestones and this card is done.....told you it is simple ;-)

The next fold was really more complicated and I don't think I like it too much. This been said, if you use the fold in a bigger scale as a drapery in the background for your card, it is ok. Well I had the idea to create a butterfly out of multiple pieces folded this way, but to be able to use them this way I had to really scale them down.

I don't want to write down all the measurements for this one here, because otherwise you will fall asleep reading it. I just give you and idea how this fold looks like. You start with a strip of paper, find the middle and start scoring from the middle to the right and left in equal distances. This photo here shows you how the fold looks like at the end. You start folding from the middle in and out until you reach the end on the left side and then repeat with the right side. 

I then opened the folds and cut away a triangle on both sides top and bottom. To make sure the folds stay flat, I folded them back together and placed a strip of red sticky tape on the back. The body of the butterfly is hand drawn and cut. I added a few strips of glitter paper to it and placed it above the center of the wing pieces. It is super hard t describe this fold, but there are many video tutorials on YouTube to see how they are made. This one is nothing for beginners and will take a while to create. 

Well I hope these more detaield pictures will show you how I created my cards with the different folds. One more fold is coming up here on the blog next Friday, so stay tuned. In the meantime, try it yourself and let me know how it worked. Please contact me if you have questions about these or any other techniques. Stay tuned....

Birthday Card with Peek-A-Boo

Here are the last cards we made in class this month before we enter our card making summer break. I thought it would be fun to use one or two of the folds we created during our Technique Hop last month and in case you missed it, please click here.

This is a fold you should try out ones too. Super easy and a great effect. The most difficult part is to find the right double-sided paper. Make sure both sides of the paper will compliment each other. Here I picked a paper that has these beautiful flowers on one side and a simple black and white design on the other side. 

Why is this important? When we fold back both of these corners, the paper from the back will show and cover our main paper (the flowers). If e.g. both sides would have had a flower design, this might have looked crazy right? 
So make sure they work together :-)

Ok, but now back to this card. I used a white card base from Close to My Heart for this card. I cut a piece of black cardstock at 4 1/4 " x 5 1/2" and adhered it to the front of the base. 

Next I cut a strip of silver mirri-paper at 1/4" x 5 1/2" and adhered it to the left side of the card leaving about 1/8" of the black cardstock on left showing. The double-sided paper is cut at 4" x 5 1/2". On the right side of the paper I made a cut about 2 3/4" from the bottom and about 2" long into the paper. 

You can make this horizontal cut at any height and in any length, all depending on how you want your peek-a-boo to look like. I then folded the two corners back. I added glue to the back side of the peek-a-boo paper (corners folded over) and adhered it flush with the right side of the card. So you base should show a strip of black cardstock, silver paper and then the peek-a-boo. I added a small foam dot under each corner to keep them folded over. 

We used white pigment ink from Close to My Heart to stamp the "Happy Birthday" phrase onto the black cardstock. This ink will take a little bit time to dry and the white will get more intense too.

The flower is cut with the Cricut using one of our Close to My Heart cartridges. The flower is added with foam dots above the center of the fold. A few pearls finishing off this card. For the inside we simply stamped another "Happy Birthday" phrase and did some doodling.

This is a really simple fold, but so effective. You should give it a try and stay tuned for more cards to come ...

Technique: Watercolor Pencils - Throw-Back-Friday

Throw-Back-Friday...
This is a little intro into watercolor pencils I did a while ago but I thought this might be still interesting for you especially since we used the paints in May.

So here we go...we will look into watercolor pencils and how they work. As I mentioned in previous posts, these are my absolute favorite mediums! No matter if you are a beginner or a pro in water-coloring, these are perfect since you don't need a lot of extras to use them. So what do you need to get started?

1. A good set of watercolor pencils like our Close to My Heart pencils which come in a nice set of different colors. Perfect to start with...click here
2. A small thin brush or small water tank brush...click here
3. A couple sheets of white cardstock, not to thin!
4. Archival or StazOn black ink or any ink that is not water based!!!!  
5. A nice stamp set

Let's see how I got started: 
First I took a strip of white cardstock, wrote the name of the color on it and colored a little circle underneath. Next I used a brush with just a tiny little bit of water and smooched out the color so I could see how it would look like once water is added to it. Water will make the color appear brighter!

I used a funny ladies stamp set from ArtImpressions and inked it up in StazOn ink. I used our plain Close to My Heart daisy white cardstock to stamp on. You don't need watercolor paper with the pencils if you are not going to use a lot of water.

Before: 
Next I started to color my ladies in. As you can see in the picture "before" I didn't color the objects completely in. You want to keep in mind while coloring in, that you have a darker side on an object (shade) and a lighter one (light source). I also place some color on their clothing (very light) and added a littler darker color along shaded areas. 
One trick I learned recently was to always leave the middle of a persons face open...hard to vision, but you will see at the end how it turns out. Also leave the top of the head, shoulders etc white as well. 
Once everything is "colored in" or I would call it prepared, we grab our brush! 

You want to wet your brush and dry it of on a paper towel. To test how much water is still on your brush, I always brush it over the back of my hand and it should leave only a little trace of water...I know it is not much, but this is all you need! Now you start with one color, e.g. the blue shirt of the lady on the right. Begin in the lighter area and move to the darker part. You will see how nice the color flows and all streak from the pencil will disappear. Clean your brush before you move to the next color. Sometimes the color will spread a long way that's why I only color the object have way in, e.g. the foot bowls.
If you look at their faces, I when around the outsides and carefully evened out the middle, still keeping a white spot. Doesn't this make the face look more 3-D? Make sure to leave some of the white on top of the hair etc.

Well, what do you think about your first watercolor piece? Wasn't this easy? A little practice will go along way and all this with only a handful of supplies!

Here is another example of how I start my coloring:

I used three different color pencils for the rose. A very light peach, a medium orange and a darker red. I started with the lightest color and colored all rose petals in. Next I used the orange and added some shading to the petals. The shading is at the bottom of the petals and on the sides for the more round shapes. 

Looking at picture 3 I thought the light color was a bit too light, so I went over it again to make it a bit deeper. Next I used the dark red to give the rose petals more dimension. Going back and forth between these three colors and adding more until I felt I got the right mixture (picture 5). Always start light and keep adding.. In picture 6 you can see how I started to use the water brush on some of the petals, going from the lightest color to the darkest. If you get too much color on your brush, clean it off on your paper towel. You don't want to loose the shading by getting too much red into the peach. (Lower, second right and upper petal are brushed with water in pic.6)

Finally all petals are done with water, I started with the leafs. I used three different shades of green. Starting with the lightest over the whole leaf, then adding the medium from the middle of the leaf half way out and last a little bit of the dark green along the vein of the leaf (picture 8). A little bit of water on the brush, I went from light green to dark, brushing off excess to keep the shading. My final rose picture can be seen in picture 9.

Don't over-complicate the coloring at the beginning. Just have fun and see how the colors will react with water. 

Always remember, when using regular cardstock and watercolor pencils, DON'T use a lot of water. Your brush should be almost dry!!! You can always add more if the color is not mixing but usually just a tinny little bit of water goes along long way!

The more you practice the more you get used to the shading. If you are interested in a class on how to water color, contact me. I would love to show you how!